Bowie's Cowan ready for larger role with Terps

Maryland point guard Anthony Cowan (0) will see his role on the Terrapins change this season with the departure of star Melo Trimble. Cowan, who grew up in Bowie, averaged 10.3 points per game as a freshman last year. (Mel Evans / AP)

Life on the basketball court will change this season for Bowie native Anthony Cowan.

The sophomore point guard, along with the rest of the University of Maryland basketball team, must adjust to life without star guard Melo Trimble, who has moved on after three stellar seasons in College Park.

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Trimble, who led Maryland in scoring last year with a 16.8 average, was the main reason the Terrapins went 79-25 over the past three seasons and made three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.

But he’s gone now, having moved on to a developmental squad connected with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Melo was pretty special,” Maryland basketball coach Mark Turgeon said Tuesday at the team’s Media Day. “He did a lot for our program and he did a lot for me. If Melo would have played here for the next 20 years, I wouldn’t have minded. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know that you lose great players and you move on.”

As a result, Cowan – along with fellow sophomores Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter – must adapt to compensate for Trimble’s absence.

Cowan will have to handle the ball even more than he did last season, when he started all 33 games and led Maryland in assists with 123 (3.7 per game). He’ll also have to shoot the ball better from the outside than he did last year, when he scored a respectable 10.3 points per game, but made just 32 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Others will have to adjust as well. Jackson (10.5 ppg) will play much more at small forward than power forward this year as Turgeon plans to rely more on his inside players for offense. Huerter (10.3 ppg last year) slides from small forward to shooting guard in the backcourt with Cowan. All three are talented, but deferred to Trimble because of the combination of their inexperience and his considerable talent.

Cowan understands that he needs to improve with Trimble out of the picture. But he says he isn’t feeling any pressure to take over the offense in his absence.

“It’s just not all on me, Justin and Kevin,” he said. “It’s a collective effort. We’re just going to have to take it day by day.”

Cowan will be running the show, to be sure. At this point, there isn’t another proven option at the point guard spot. But Turgeon’s message to Cowan so far has dealt with him playing smart, rather than playing more like Trimble.

“My message to Anthony is: Make the right decisions,” Turgeon said. “If you’re open, you shoot it. If you’ve got a chance to pass, read the situation. We have a read-and-react offense in everything we do, so it’s about making the right decisions. So, if Anthony does that, we’re a much better offensive tam. I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on Anthony - that he’s filling Melo’s shoes, because he’s not. We’ve got a whole group of guys; we’ve got a nice team.”

And yet, Cowan has gone to great lengths to step up his game in anticipation of the season ahead. He wa sin the gym every day during the summer, hoisting thousands of jump shots. He also worked on his body, trying to bulk up so his slight 6-foot, 170-pound frame can withstand the rigors of Big Ten basketball over the course of an entire season.

“My offseason’s been really good so far,” he said. “I learned a lot and I got a lot better in several different areas of my game. I added some pieces to my game - got a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger … It was very productive.”

He’s also making sure that he takes care of himself – a lesson he learned after going through his first full college season season year.

“The biggest thing I took away (from last season) was to take care of your body during the season,” said the St. John’s College High School graduate. “The season wears down people’s bodies a lot. I’m learning to stretch more, getting more ice baths – just little things like that.”

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So far, Cowan’s dedication seems to be paying off. He led Maryland in scoring with 17 points in a closed scrimmage last weekend against Wake Forest.